cjam93

Yes and No. For one thing I love the size and action of it. I think one of the things that makes it so good is how it is only about 2inches. The action is something the fish have not seen a whole lot and that really helps as well. I love the Caribbean Shad color in slightly stained water, it has great flash. The bad though is that one, the baits are not very durable, or at least that has been my experience so far. The bills are pretty fragile. I went through two in one week, one was my fault (crankbaits and outboard dont mesh well haha) but the other one broke just from normal use the first day I used it. My dad picked one up and it ran wrong. I am going to try to tune it this Saturday, but Im not sure how you can tune a bait that is meant to kick out on the retrieve. Finally I just dont think they are worth the price when considering how easy they seem to break.

Cool thanks guys! I plan on also getting the Fat Johns, but I was mainly worried about the others since I can get the MD along with the normal Little John and fish it deeper. I will probably end up getting enough that I can cover all of the different water depths. I havent gotten to use one yet but I love the looks of all the spro baits.

Hey guys so I want to pick up some spro little john cranks. I was wondering how people like them in stained to muddy water. I know in dirtier water you want a loud crank as well as a crank that moves a lot of water. I have not used a little john, or any flat body crank for that matter much at all. I am wondering how the little johns do in stained or muddy water since they are flat body and have that low pitched rattle that is not very loud. Also would you throw a little john year round? I have read some places that a flat body crank is great in colder water or when the fish are pressured, but then I also saw a video with John Crews where he said the little johns are the only crankbaits he throws year round. I know he is a pro promoting his bait but I thought there may still be some truth to this. I was just mainly wondering how flat body cranks are in the summer or fall when the water is either hot or starting to cool but still not considered cold. Thanks for the help guys!

I would also say Junebug. I have also had some great luck with green pumpkin in all different types of water, from clear to very muddy.

Hey guys so I was wondering when you are shallow cranking how do you decide if you want to throw a squarebill or a roundbill? I always thought roundbills were more for just covering water and a little cover but not great at coming out of cover while a squarebill is mainly for deflecting off and out of heavy cover. I was watching a video on youtube though with John Crews and was surprised when he said he throws his roundbills when he is around cover and he uses his squarebills in open water to use their vibration to draw fish into striking. So I was just wondering how the majority of people decide which to throw.

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks everyone for the detailed responses!

Hey guys so like the title says what is your favorite brand of crankbaits in the less than $15 range?

I havent actually used the Little Jons before, do they hunt sideways as well? I know that the write up on the fat john on *** says that they hunt around which is why I was hoping it was similar to the scatter rap movement. I broke two in the course of a weekend so I can for sure say I have had problems with them breaking haha. One of them was my fault, but the other one was just from normal use.

Hey guys so I had a topic a few weeks ago on throwing some lifelike bluegill colors in stained to muddy water. Anyways it got me thinking about crankbait colors in a slightly different way. I know some people believe in matching the hatch. Certain times of the year they will throw a craw pattern, a bluegill pattern, or a shad pattern. Others choose to pick their crankbaits depending on the water clarity on any given day. Lately I have noticed myself being in the second group. I primarily throw chart sexy shad in the water that I fish, but if it gets a little more stained than normal I go to something like chart black back. I maybe wrong but I am under the impression that most baits that chart is a primary color is supposed to resemble things like bluegill or perch and not so much shad. Anyways I am just wondering which of these groups you fall into and why? This question also came up as I was thinking about picking up some spro crankbaits and their colors are a bit different then the ones I normally throw, and I was trying to figure out which ones I should get so that I could cover most conditions for my local lakes. I usually have 1-3feet of visibility just depending on the different factors of the day. On average I have 1.5-2feet and it is not really muddy, just stained brownish if that makes sense. Any insight into this would be really helpful also! Thanks!

Hey I havent used that color, but I have thrown both the DT series and the Rapala Thug in the Parrot color and I have caught fish on it quite a lot. Im not sure what kind of water you have around you, but if it is stained then that is a must have color imo.

Hey guys so earlier today I was posting about having trouble with the Rapala Scatter Rap. I either get one that does not swim the right way, or they are to fragile and break easily. Anyways tonight I was reading about the Baby Fat Johns cranks from Spro. I saw that they are designed to hunt around on the retrieve as well. I am just wondering if anyone has used both of them how the hunting action of the Baby Fat compares to that of the Scatter Rap? I really love the action of a Scatter Rap just not the durability or the quality control in them.

This is the first Rapala bait I have had any problems with breaking. I normally really like them. The Dt's are my go to baits in 10 foot of water or less

I was thinking that, but I was hoping before I had to go to the store, someone would have an idea about just fixing it.

Hey guys so I bought a scatter rap on Friday and on Saturday I caught a couple of fish with it. I also broke the bill on it. So that night I bought another one. On Sunday I hit the water again. The new scatter rap will not swim right. Even if I swim it slowly it still wants to turn on its side. Sometimes it will stay straight and only kick out when I speed the reel up, other times it constantly turns from one side to the other and upside down as well even when I reeling slowly and not trying to make it kick out to one side. I know they are supposed to hunt, but this one will even at times turn on its side and refuse to dive. I dont know if you would call it tuning when this is a bait that is not supposed to come straight back to you, but does anyone have an idea how I can fix this?

Hey guys so like the topic says I would like to pick up a rod made for jerkbaits and topwater. I was looking at the Skeet Reese jerkbait/topwater rod the other day and I really like the feel of it a lot. I am just wondering if there is anything else in that price range you would recommend I look at also. Thanks!

Thanks Ill look around for that. I havent had much luck with sexy shad, but chart sexy shad has produced very well.

Thanks for the advice! I will look into those!

I gotchya, thanks that makes sense. I think sometimes I just over think things and worry to much haha

For the sake of discussion, are you saying that you would throw bluegill in even very muddy water? The problem I have with Rapala's version of Bluegill color is how realistic it is. Im always worried it wont actually be visible since it has no flash what so ever. The reason I dont like to throw the extremely bright things like black back chart belly is half the time I feel like it is to bright for the water conditions. In muddy I am fine with it, but since my water is not really muddy just not clear I worry it being to bright and looking fake to the fish. I normally throw XDs for deeper cranking and DTs for 10ft and down, would you say those are good for the wide wobble or recommend something else? I have had a lot of luck with XDs but very little with the DT series.

I may have exaggerated the visibility, it maybe closer to 1.5-2feet. It is odd water though as its not really the chocolate milk color that comes with most muddy water.

Hey guys so I was wondering what your thoughts are on crankbait colors in stained water with 1 foot or less visibility. Let me start by saying that the best crankbait color I have found for my local lake so far has been SK's chart sexy shad. However I also throw some other brands like Rapala. Sometimes in this water I do not want a bait that is completely chartreuse colored like a chart black back, or Rapala's parrot color. At the same time though I am not sure that something like Helsinki Shad has enough flash in it to make it a good choice. The same goes for the Rapala's Bluegill color. I guess I am just wondering in conditions like this would you use Helsinki Shad and Bluegill, or would you look for so meting else? I like my baits to have some chart to them, but maybe not as much as parrot. Is that about right for this type of water clarity? http://www.***.com/Rapala_DT_Series_Crankbait/descpage-RDT.html#multiview Here is a page of the different Rapala colors I was talking about.

Ok thanks! I notice Biffle talks a lot about how it is great around rocks, but is it good on bare banks or around wood as well?

Hey guys so I have been doing some reading on the Biffle Bug system and I have a few questions. Now everything I see says that he fishes it on a 7.1:1 ratio reel. Now my first question is if the idea is to keep the bait bumping the bottom, how can you reel it on that high of a speed and also keep it down? It seems to me that would bring it up through the water column very quickly. I also saw a few videos of him using it and he was reeling constantly in all of them, so he wasnt bringing it off the bottom and then stopping his reel so that it could fall back down. Secondly, is that considered a clear water technique or is that ok for most types of water?

That link is very helpful! Actually watching it right now, thanks! Im going to be trying this out tomorrow!

Sounds good thank you for the advice! I agree 3ft is really not that stained. I should have worded it better. Basically the water is usually stained and less than 3ft of visibility. We only get 3ft on a really good day.